[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 212 (Wednesday, December 8, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S9015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Coronavirus

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yesterday, Chicago reported its first case 
of the new coronavirus variant, Omicron. Our State's health officials 
predicted this day would come; it did. They are actively preparing for 
additional cases.
  The World Health Organization has identified it as a variant of 
concern. It has the potential for increased transmissibility and could 
possibly--I underline ``possibly''--evade some protections from 
existing vaccines.
  But as we begin to learn about this variant, some hopeful signs have 
emerged. On Sunday, Dr. Fauci described early data on the severity of 
Omicron as ``encouraging.'' Additionally, today, we received 
preliminary findings that patients are better protected against Omicron 
with a third Pfizer dose.
  And while it is still too soon to draw any definitive conclusions--
too soon--what is clear is that the historic investments we have made--
the Senate and President Biden--these investments in public health are 
paying off.
  Thanks to the American Rescue Plan--which we passed earlier this year 
on, sadly, a partisan rollcall without a single Republican vote--
America is more prepared. That rescue package not only funded 
production and distribution of lifesaving vaccines; it paved the way 
for public health officials to detect and track new variants like 
Omicron. It provided more than a billion dollars toward expanding and 
accelerating genomic sequencing, the process that allows us to analyze 
how the coronavirus is evolving and spreading in realtime, so we can 
respond.
  Thanks to this investment today, America is sequencing roughly 80,000 
virus samples a week. Before President Biden took office, we were 
sequencing fewer than 3,000; now, 80,000 a week. That has made a world 
of difference when it comes to tracking the spread of a variant.
  In less than 2 weeks since the variant was discovered in South 
Africa, it has been identified in at least 19 States in addition to 
Illinois.
  As we await more data on the risk Omicron poses to the public, here 
are three things we know. First--and it bears repeating--the best 
protection is to get vaccinated. Ninety-five percent of Americans are 
eligible, and 70 percent have already gotten at least one shot. Within 
days, we will hit the impressive milestone of 200 million Americans 
getting fully vaccinated. We need to continue to promote this 
incredible safety tool, and that means booster shots as well.
  Second, America must continue to support the global vaccine campaign. 
As I have said before, COVID doesn't know borders. As long as it is 
circulating across the globe, the risk of virus mutation growing 
stronger and roaring back into the United States continues to be real.
  Fortunately, the Biden administration has already taken important 
steps to address global vaccine inequality and get more shots to low-
income countries. Just this week, USAID announced a $400 million 
investment in a new global vaccine access program to deliver vaccines 
to remote parts of the world.
  I just got off the phone with Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham 
and Women's Hospital, a prolific author, and a man who is very 
insightful. He has agreed to step forward and to work with 
Administrator Samantha Power at USAID. He is the right person for this 
job at this very moment. So I encourage my colleagues to let him move 
off the calendar and into the job as quickly as possible. We need his 
expertise at USAID.
  The third point I would like to make is that we need to build on the 
American Rescue Plan's investment in public health. Effective public 
health systems are like smoke detectors: They can alert us to deadly 
dangers long before they threaten.
  At the start of this pandemic, America's public health system had 
been ignored and underfunded for years. That is the reason why we 
proposed nearly $10 billion in the Build Back Better plan, which we are 
currently working on, to improve laboratory capacity, disease 
detection, the workforce, and public health preparedness. This funding 
will fortify our public health system at a time when it is absolutely 
necessary.